


The Toy Collector

by eerian_sadow



Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers Generation One
Genre: Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-09
Updated: 2012-09-09
Packaged: 2017-11-13 21:50:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/508079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prowl cultivates an interesting hobby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Toy Collector

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wicked3659](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wicked3659/gifts).



“Hi, Prowl!”

The tactician looked up from his bookfile at the happy chirp and gave Bluestreak a small smile. “Hello, Bluestreak. What can I do for you?”

Shyly, the sniper held out a small box. “I, um, I got you a present. I found while we were in Portland this morning and it made me think of you and so I thought you might like to have it.”

Prowl set aside his data pad and took the box—small indeed for a Cybertronian, but fairly large for a human—and carefully untied the ribbon holding it closed. Bluestreak fidgeted a bit as he pulled the flaps open and looked inside. Nestled in the bottom of the box, on a nest of bright pink tissue paper, was a surprisingly accurate plush replica of a black and white Praxian.

“The shopkeeper didn’t say it was you specifically, but it _looks_ like you and I thought it was pretty cool that the humans would make a replica of you like that.” The younger Praxian gave him a shy smile.

The tactician lifted the plush toy out of the box and inspected it carefully. “The likeness is incredible, even if they didn’t replicate my decals. Such amazing work.” Prowl looked up at Bluestreak and gave him another smile. “Thank you. It’s wonderful.”

“You really like it?” The younger mech beamed.

“I really do.” He set the toy down on his data pad and then gestured to the seat across from him. “Now, tell me about your trip into town. What trouble did you get into with the twins?”

“Prowl! They don’t _always_ get me into trouble!”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Jazz chuckled as he stepped into Prowl’s office. “Blue got you one too, huh?”

Prowl was puzzled for a moment, until he realized the saboteur was pointing at the shelf behind him. He looked over his shoulder at the plush Praxian sitting there with a small smile. “He did. I rather like it.”

“It ruins your image entirely,” Jazz said solemnly. Then he pulled a similarly sized replica of himself from subspace. “Think mine could keep yours company? It really won’t do well in my office.”

“Why not?” Prowl was puzzled even as he reached a hand out for Jazz’s plush.

“It creeps Mirage out. He was threatening some dire things when I dismissed the meeting today.” The saboteur set the plush down with a smile. “Thanks. I know it would break Blue’s spark if anything happened to it.”

“Indeed it would.” Carefully he placed the Jazz plush next to the Prowl plush, arranging them so that they were leaning against each other back to back. “What do you think?”

“I think that’s too cute for words.” Jazz grinned. “You’ve got a sweet side in there somewhere.”

“Perhaps it’s supposed to be symbolic of how we work together as a team to keep each other safe.” Prowl returned the grin with a light tease.

“You just keep telling yourself that, mech. I’ll see you at the officers' meeting.” The saboteur sauntered out of the office as quietly as he had come in.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Over the course of the next few days, several more plush Autobots made their way into the safety of Prowl’s office for one reason or another. Blaster brought in a replica of himself that Eject and Rewind had purchased for him but that he didn’t have the heart to tell them he didn’t like, Optimus brought a copy of himself in for safekeeping until it could be sent to Cybertron for Elita-1 and the Twins left plush replicas of over half the crew sitting on his desk during one of his off-duty cycles. They were all carefully put on the shelf behind him, though he was always very sure to leave the replica of himself at the front where it would be easy to see.

“Wow, Prowl,” Chip said thoughtfully as he steered himself into the office for a visit. “I didn’t know you collected toys.”

Prowl gave the shelf a glance and chuckled lightly. “I don’t. Bluestreak gave me the first as a gift and I seem to have simply adopted the others.”

“Aw, I think it’s kind of cute. It proves what I’ve said all along about there being more to all of you than just programming and mechanical parts.” The human grinned up at him. “I mean, there’s no _logical_ reason to have a shelf full of stuffed toys behind you, right?”

“None at all, except that I like them.” Prowl lowered a hand so that he could lift Chip up to his desk to put them on more even ground. “And I would appreciate it if you did _not_ put that in your school paper.”

“Aww, Prowl. I wouldn’t do that to you. Your fangirls are scary enough without that sort of thing.”

Thinking about some of the incidents of human females flocking around his feet during public events, despite how obviously unsafe such an action could be, he had to agree. Some of them were quite frightening in their …devotion to him. “Thank you.”

“No problem.” The human smiled. “So what game are we going to play today? It’s your turn to choose.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

A few days after his game night with Chip, Prowl found Carly sitting on the floor in front of his office door, leaning against a box that was almost as big as she was.

“Hey, Prowl!” She smiled brightly when she realized he was there. “You’re just the bot I was looking for. I thought you might want these.”

She stood up and opened the box, displaying a multitude of small plush toys. “We made them in our life skills class this week, as part of our sewing unit, but no one wanted to keep theirs. And Chip was talking about your collection at dinner last night, and I thought you might want to add to it.”

The tactician quirked a brow ridge. “I trust he only spoke of this to you?”

“Well me and Spike and Sparkplug. But I didn’t tell the other members of my class why I wanted their toys. Your secret is safe.”

“That is good to know.” He gave the box of plush toys a critical look. “Carly, I really don’t think all of these have a place in my… collection.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t think you would want them all.” She bent over and dug around in the box. After a moment, she pulled out two small dolls that were obviously modeled after Spike and Sparkplug. “I made these. And one of my classmates made a Bumblebee, he’s in there too. And I think there’s a Starscream, because some people have no taste at all.”

Prowl gave her a smirk. “Perhaps not, but I’m sure Sideswipe and Sunstreaker would enjoy it.”

Carly laughed. “Oh they would! Maybe I should see if they want it!”

“First, let’s see what else is in this box. Some of them do seem to be rather charming.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Carly’s box of plush toys stayed in Prowl’s office for weeks after she brought it to the _Ark_ , though only the dolls she had made and the Bumblebee designed by her classmate went on display on his shelf. The box was added to from time to time, as the twins attempted to prank him by leaving plushes hidden in various places in his office or as Bluestreak found toys that struck his fancy but none of them really needed or wanted. Even Gears added to the box once, with a ridiculously bright animal of indeterminate species that he had acquired during a parade in the city.

He thought about it occasionally, wondering what he would do with all the toys. He certainly didn’t need them and they would never really be part of his collection. 

He was provided with a solution after almost six months with the box in his office. He had been entertaining one of the human ambassadors and her son while they waited for Optimus to finish up a communication with Cybertron and the child—surely no more than four earth years old—had opened the box during his exploration of Prowl’s office and pulled out a few of the toys.

“Play, mama?” the child asked, holding up a teddy bear.

The ambassador looked a bit embarrassed. “Sweetheart, we don’t get into other people’s things, you know that. I’m sure that Prowl is saving these for the children’s hospital.”

The boy looked down at the bear in his hands sadly.

“It’s fine, Madam Ambassador,” Prowl said with a gentle smile. “Toys are meant to be played with, after all. And it will keep him occupied until our child care provider arrives. Perhaps you can tell me something, though.”

“Of course. I’m happy to help in any way I can,” the ambassador said as she sat down on the floor to play with her son.

“Why would the children’s hospital need these toys?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

After his first, and very successful, toy drive for the children’s hospital, the box of toys in Prowl’s office became commonplace. Everyone knew it was there, everyone knew what it was for and everyone contributed. Sometimes the toys went into Prowl’s collection instead—he was up to three shelves by the time Red Alert arrived at the _Ark_ and attempted to hide security cameras inside several of the toys—but the box gave the others an outlet for the times when they saw something they thought was cute and made an impulse purchase. Bluestreak and the twins, in fact, made a hobby out of finding the most unique plush toys possible to contribute to the box.

And every time something new went into the box, Prowl would glance at his collection of plush Autobots and smile.


End file.
